music reviews by winch

Oregon band

Paul Winter Consort

Icarus

Epic 31643

1973
Producer: George Martin

Rating:*** (Noteworthy)

Winter continues his move away from jazz with this set, sticking to a unigue folk sound and helping to lay down some firm foundations for what would become the genre called world music. While most of the Consort had already formed Oregon by this time, Winter fortunately managed to retain them for this outing. In fact, the Oregon members provide most of the material for this album, and fans of Oregon will want to check out this set. This isn’t perhaps as spontaneous or adventurous as much of Oregon’s material, but this was likely Winter’s finest offering.

While I never considered Oregon as a band influenced by the Beatles, the George Martin production and the heavy use of Eastern instruments on this set perhaps helps point out a very creative extension of the Fab Four’s work. This certainly offered the hippies and Beatles’ fans a much needed alternative to the post-Beatles singer/songwriter craze. This set has some weaker moments, but mostly it’s quite enjoyable, and fans of Ralph Towner will certainly enjoy his contributions.